Cultural Identity In The Namesake By Jhumpa Lahiri

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In Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake, the protagonist, Gogol, struggles with his cultural identity. He is an American-born Bengali struggling to define himself. He wants to fit into the typical American-lifestyle, a lifestyle his parents do not understand. This causes him tension through his adolescence and adult life, he has trouble finding a balance between America and Bengali culture. This is exemplified with his romantic relationships. These relationships directly reflect where he is in his life, what he is going through and his relationship with his parents. Each woman indicates a particular moment in time where he is trying to figure out his cultural identity. Ruth represents an initial break away from Bengali culture; Maxine represents …show more content…

He avoids telling them for as long as he can, even if it keeps him from seeing Ruth “But such a trip would require telling his parents about Ruth, something he has no desire to do” (Lahiri 115). To him, his parents represent Bengali culture, something he is not sure he wants to be a part of. He tries to live entirely without their opinion, driving them out of his personal life almost entirely. Although he is trying to separate himself from Bengali culture, he still remains only a few hours away from home, still visits every other weekend. At the end of the day, Gogol is still connected to his home and culture in a way Ruth is not. Ruth seeks adventure in Europe choosing to study abroad in Oxford, London. “Instead of coming back from Oxford after those twelve weeks, she’d stayed on to do a summer course” (Lahiri 119). In fact Ruth wants to go back to England for graduate school, something Gogol has no real interest in doing. His connection, even if subconscious ends up being the driving force in Ruth and Gogol’s break up. He fails to learn from his mistakes with Ruth, however, and the next girl he dates is even more different than

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